Life from a Wellcome Trust perspective

Invisible You – the Human Microbiome

This month the Eden Project launches a new permanent exhibition dedicated to the entire world that exists within us – Invisible You. The Human Microbiome. Science project manager from Eden, Gabriella Gilkes, tells us about many happy hours spent marvelling down the lens at that fantastical world, and how it is a dream come true.

Microbiological Portrait – Mellissa Fisher

‘I am afraid that the experiments you quote, M. Pasteur, will turn against you. The world into which you wish to take us is really too fantastic.’ – La Presse, 1860

Louis Pasteur’s discovery of ‘tiny animalcules’ down the lens of his microscope changed the world of biomedical science. That same world is changing again today through the scientific discoveries of the human microbiome. The advent of genomics, with cheaper and easier methods of DNA sequencing have allowed the study of that microbial ecosystem – the invisible community of bacteria, fungi, archea, protozoa and viruses – that live in and on each one of us, to come to light like never before in our scientific history. Today, the fresh discoveries of microbiome research, their form, function, resistance to medicines or emerging links with modern disease, are barely out of the news.

Phage – Aimee Lax

At Eden, we connect people with nature and each other, showcasing the extraordinary power that we can have by working together. Until now, an obvious piece of the story was missing: our own. We are an ecosystem hosting the commensal microbes that have evolved alongside us. Invisible You takes you inside your body to meet this community and asks if exploring and understanding our microbiome can help us lead happier, healthier lives. Can we draw parallels with regard to how we nurture the global ecosystem?

With the support of a Society Award from the Wellcome Trust, we have commissioned 12 artists to bring to life this incredible story in our first ever ‘micro’ biome at Eden. There is something for everyone. Our ambition was to make the topic personal and emotive: to include elements of beauty and wonder, of scale and magnitude, of humour and horror. We chose art for its power to transcend topics, to take you beyond the realm of possibility and give us fresh perspective and understanding.

5e+16 – Bill Wroath

The pieces range from the awe-inspiring intricacy of a paper cut, to porcelain viruses; from a mechanical rectum, to a mass ‘microbe’ dance of people filmed from a crane above our own site arena at Eden. We have a rotting agar-face, live belly-button portraiture, digital interactive technology and even a musical score made from the sequencing of microbial DNA. We will swab parts of participants (or their personal effects) to add to the dataset for international projects such as the Earth Microbiome Project.

Don’t try this at home – Anna Dumitriu

Great collaborations have emerged. The artist Anna Dumitriu has been working with the research team at Leeds Infirmary to explore the delicate subject of human faecal microbiota transplants, their clinical use in the treatment of Clostridium difficile and the rise of those trying them at home. The musical score is collaboration between students from the Royal Colleges of Art and Music and academics at Exeter University. We set a brief as part of Royal Society of Art’s Student Design Awards and picked four responses from all over the world ranging from microbial birthing products to pop-up intestinal encyclopaedias.

We have been advised by an incredible group of professionals from all over the world and our links to these will continue to grow. But the most interesting part of this exhibition will be to see people’s reactions and explore how we can develop some of those issues as we go on – issues such as the links between the microbiome and obesity, diabetes and depression, microbial treatments for cancer and the fight for new forms of non-resistant medicines. We are not a science institution, so participants will be from all walks of life; feedback will form the evolution of the programme, just as the evolution of our bacteria informs our own progress through life.

E-mail Subscription

Follow us on Twitter

Google+

Wellcome Trust

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health by supporting bright minds in science, the humanities and social sciences, and public engagement. Read more.

Commenting guidelines

By commenting on this blog you agree to abide by our Community Guidelines. Although we will do our utmost to avoid it, we reserve the right to edit, move or delete any comments which do not follow the guidelines provided.